


Watery Shenanigans

by HashtagLEH



Series: MerMay 2020 [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythical Creatures Are Not Known, Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, But it's still new, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Human Rhodey, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, MerMay, MerMay 2020, Merperson Tony Stark, No underage, Rhodey Gives It to Him, Rhodey Just Adores Tony, Rhodey has a cold, Romantic Fluff, Sick Character, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and a kiss, and a nap, but they are definitely still there, he gets both, he just wants some NyQuil, mermaid au, so much fluff it's ridiculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24411169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HashtagLEH/pseuds/HashtagLEH
Summary: All Rhodey wanted was some NyQuil and a nap. But Tony always had a way of surprising him.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Series: MerMay 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1724359
Comments: 5
Kudos: 111
Collections: IronHusbands





	Watery Shenanigans

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't have no IronHusbands in my series, so this took priority. Hope you like!

Rhodey pushed open the door to his dorm apartment, sniffing again as his nose dripped. He’d thought he would be okay to go to work that day, but his boss had sent him home as soon as she saw his reddened eyes and puffy face, clear signs of a bad head cold. He couldn’t honestly say he was too upset – he just wanted to take some NyQuil and pass out for about twelve hours.

He dropped his backpack on the couch in the living room, out of the way but not with the usual effort he took to hang it up. He rubbed a hand over his eyes to relieve the itching and moved toward the bathroom, where the medicine sat in the cabinet under the sink.

He was briefly startled at the sight of the closed door, with the light on inside to show that it was occupied. He had expected Tony to be in his psych class, but he must have ditched it again – he hated the soft sciences with a passion, and used any excuse he could to bow out of attending.

Whatever. The NyQuil was at the forefront of his mind, and he just wanted to grab it and go to bed. He knocked lightly on the door.

“Hey, Tones, I need the NyQuil,” he called, wincing at the nasally sound of his voice.

“ _Um_ ,” Tony said back, sounding vaguely panicked. “Uh – it’ll be a bit.”

“I can just come in and grab it,” Rhodey said, exhausted, leaning against the doorframe.

“ _No!_ ” Tony called, a certain hysteria in his voice that made Rhodey blink away the fog shrouding his brain, worry beginning to grow in its place in response to Tony’s panic. “No, just – wait for me to get out!”

“I don’t know why you think I care that you’re taking a dump,” Rhodey told him, reaching for a reason for why Tony was clearly desperate not to let him in. “We’ve been friends long enough _before_ dating and I’ve eaten you out – I know what you look like.”

“I’ll just bring it out to you when I’m done,” Tony called, trying to sound calm and missing the mark by a long shot. “Just go to bed, Rhodey. I’ll be just a bit.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Rhodey said decisively, straightening and reaching for the door handle. “Obviously something is wrong more than…”

He trailed off as the door swung open, Tony’s last panicked pleas falling on deaf ears as Rhodey just _stared_.

As Rhodey had figured, Tony wasn’t on the toilet, but was in the bath tub, clutching the closed shower curtain like he was desperate to preserve his modesty. He did, but still it didn’t help to hide the four or five feet of a _tail_ that had trailed out the side of the tub and leaned against the wall. It looked like a fish tail, but obviously much too large. But there were red scales that shimmered gold, with a caudal fin at the end that was almost transparent, like that of a betta fish. And where Tony’s hand clutched the shower curtain Rhodey could see more red-gold scales trailing through the skin, the webbed fingers that ended in bright red fingernails. Tony’s eyes peeked fearfully around the curtain, the bottom half of his face covered, but Rhodey could see still that the eyes were different, still the same shape but almost glowing gold now, and what looked like the tops of fins where his ears were supposed to be.

“Well, that’s new,” Rhodey said inanely, finally blinking. He was pretty sure that had he not been sick and dealing with a stuffed head already that he would be able to process this better, but maybe not, because Tony was a _mermaid_. Or – merman. He wasn’t clear on the terminology he was supposed to use, and hadn’t thought that he would _ever_ have to think about it, because merpeople were only supposed to exist in _myths_.

Tony didn’t respond to him, which was new for him, only blinking wide eyes at him, clearly waiting for further reaction.

“Or – _is_ it new?” Rhodey tacked on, tilting his head and looking at the tail again. Tony was dripping water on the floor, because of course he was. Tony always dripped water on the floor after a shower and yet somehow _he_ never slipped. “Or have you always had a tail?”

“I’ve had it since I was born,” Tony said guardedly.

Rhodey hummed, and decided that while yes, this was a strange thing to discover about your boyfriend, it was _Tony_ and he had grown used to the fact that Tony would always have _something_ to surprise him with. And since Tony had known about it, apparently always had it, that meant that he wasn’t in any danger and Rhodey didn’t need to worry about it.

“Cool,” Rhodey said, turning to the cabinet to finally get the NyQuil he’d originally come home for. He made a satisfied sound when he found the unopened bottle, cracking the seal off and tossing the wrapper in the trash can right next to the toilet. “I’m gonna go pass out for the next several hours,” he told Tony. “Wake me up for dinner? Oh, and wipe up the water when you’re done.”

Without further ado, not noticing the stunned look on Tony’s face amidst his focus on being able to pass out, he turned and went to his room, chugging probably more than the recommended dosage of NyQuil before collapsing blissfully into his bed. Moments later, he was out cold.

***

Rhodey woke up because he desperately needed to piss, and with a small groan to himself he dragged himself out of bed, shuffling to the bathroom while rubbing the crust from his eyes. The clock next to the sink read that it was almost midnight, and Rhodey sighed to himself at this news because it meant he’d missed dinner, and some soup sounded really good right about then. He knew that there were a few cans in the cupboard for emergencies like this, so after washing his hands he made his way to the kitchen.

He was surprised to see Tony standing in there, in front of the microwave as something heated inside. He looked a bit tense, but he turned a bit when he heard Rhodey come in.

“I heard you get up,” he said, glancing at him out the corner of his eye. “I tried to wake you up earlier but you had passed out. I got soup from the deli though so I figured I’d just heat it up for you. Do you want cheese on it? We still have some of that Vermont cheddar left.”

Suddenly overcome with affection for the brunette, Rhodey sighed a little and wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist from behind. Tony was a full head shorter than he himself was, but he was the perfect height for Rhodey to rest his cheek on top of his head, which he did now, ignoring the tufts of hair that tickled his nose.

“Could you get any more perfect?” he sighed, probably sounding as smitten as he felt. “Thanks, Tones.”

Tony snorted, but he relaxed a little at Rhodey’s words. “I’ll remind you that you said that next time you’re trying to get my drunk ass home without puking on you.” He poked Rhodey to remind him to let him go when the microwave beeped, and reached for the towel to use as a hot pad to get it out. “Go sit on the couch,” he directed. “You look like you’re about to fall over and I don’t trust the rickety dining chairs. I’ll bring this out to you in a sec.”

Rhodey obeyed, admittedly feeling a little off-balance, and grabbed the red and gold afghan that Mrs. Rogers had knitted for Tony as a high school graduation/good luck at college gift, snuggling into it with a sigh. He was feeling tired still, and was just beginning to doze off again when Tony appeared, a tray holding the soup so that the bowl wouldn’t burn him. There was some of the cheese on top, with a sleeve of saltines next to the bowl for dipping.

“Thank you,” Rhodey said exhaustedly as he accepted the tray. Tony sat down on the couch, but he wasn’t close enough for snuggling, so with an affronted noise Rhodey scooted over, glomping himself to his boyfriend’s side before he picked up the spoon to start eating.

It was quiet for a bit as Rhodey ate, Tony picking at the afghan now half on his own lap, before Tony said quietly, “I wanted to tell you.” Rhodey made a questioning noise, and Tony went on, “About being a mer. I’ve just – never done it before, and I didn’t really know how? I was afraid you’d…”

Tony trailed off, and Rhodey made an impatient noise when he realized what it was exactly that Tony was afraid of. “So you like water more than most – big deal. I’m not gonna stop loving you just ‘cause sometimes you have different body parts.”

Tony squeaked, and then coughed and cleared his throat like it would be enough to fool Rhodey. Silly man. Tony wasn’t as good as he thought he was at hiding things – not from Rhodey, at least. This was proof enough of that – never mind that Rhodey finding out was a bit of an accident.

“You love me?” Tony questioned, his voice a bit high. At that, Rhodey turned his head so that Tony could receive the full force of his glare.

“If you didn’t know that after I stuck by you even through your spiked hair phase, then you really aren’t as much of a genius as you like to claim.”

Tony glared. “I thought we agreed to _never_ talk about those days.” But even still, Rhodey could see that Tony was pleased with the somewhat confession of love.

“ _You_ agreed – not me,” Rhodey claimed, turning back to his bowl of soup, before pausing as he caught sight of the afghan still on his lap.

“Red and gold,” he mused. “That’s the same colors as – all the new parts of you. Does Mrs. Rogers know about you?”

Tony snorted. “Yeah, she does,” he confirmed. “She’s a mer, too, but not Steve. He inherited the human side from his father. He knows, though. It’s part of the reason I wanted to live with her after my parents died.”

“Is that the term that I should use?” Rhodey wondered. “Mer? Not mermaid or merman?”

“Those are technically correct if you know for sure how to identify them,” Tony said with a shrug, hand moving to absentmindedly rub Rhodey’s scalp. Rhodey shivered in bliss, relaxing even further into the touch. If Tony ever got bored of engineering, Rhodey was certain he would be a _fantastic_ masseuse. But then he would have to share him with others, so Rhodey would keep that to himself. “But mer is the more polite and formal way to address someone, I suppose.”

“So how does it work?” Rhodey asked, dragging himself away reluctantly from the tendrils of sleep trying to work their way into his brain. “Are you in danger of transforming if I spill a drink on you? Or is it – I dunno, more at will?”

“Kinda both,” Tony said with a little laugh, opening the sleeve of crackers to eat some for himself. “The water works kinda like a battery. I _could_ transform if I spilled some water on me, but it would take more effort and if I dried out before changing back it would be painful until I did. My lungs still work so I wouldn’t die, but my gills would dehydrate and be sore for a while if I didn’t have enough water to keep them moist. But if I get – I dunno, half submerged, that’s enough water that I can’t really help transforming.”

Rhodey hummed in thought, eating more of his soup before a realization suddenly occurred to him. Squinting at Tony in mock affront, he demanded, “Is this why you always say no to shower sex?”

Tony burst out laughing at the question, but Rhodey didn’t join in, only glaring until Tony gathered himself enough to answer.

“I don’t even know why shower sex is so appealing to you,” Tony proclaimed. “Even if I _didn’t_ grow a tail seconds in, wouldn’t you slip? It sounds so dangerous!”

Rhodey grumbled, but he had to admit that Tony had a point. The textured ground of the tub/shower was thin enough to prevent slipping while showering, but not really any other activities.

Suddenly Tony’s eyes lit up in a very familiar way that told Rhodey that he had another one of his crazy ideas. It was always debatable whether they were good ideas or bad ideas, but still every time Rhodey saw it he experienced what were equal parts dread for the possible repercussions of following through on Tony’s idea, and arousal for that excited gleam in Tony’s eyes.

“You know,” Tony said faux-casually, fingering along the knit pattern of the afghan in a thoroughly distracting way, “When I’m transformed I still have all the parts. Just – hidden, inside. And I’m not _thoroughly_ opposed to the idea of bathtub sex.”

Rhodey blinked, his sick brain taking a few moments to process Tony’s suggestion as well as the images that the idea produced. That was…no, he wouldn’t be opposed to that either.

Tony saw the arousal on his boyfriend’s face, able to recognize it after only a couple of weeks of officially dating, and something eased in his shoulders that Rhodey hadn’t even realized was there until it was gone. With a sudden flash of insight, he realized that Tony had still been a bit nervous that he would be accepted in _every_ aspect, but that Rhodey was still attracted to him in _both_ forms was a definite relief.

“Get feeling better first, Honeybear,” Tony directed, patting him just slightly too low on his stomach to be chaste – not that Rhodey was in any way upset about it. His boyfriend’s eyes were lit with excitement and _promise_. “We have all the time in the world for some watery shenanigans.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [ Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hashtagleh) :)


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